The ground was above Lu Yu's head, while the black night sky lay beneath his feet, with a bright full moon hanging in the sky.

Lu Yu kicked at the sea water, flipping his whole body 180 degrees, standing with his feet on the ground, he looked around at the endless ruins.

"Where is this place?" Lu Yu looked at the surroundings, filled with confusion.

Actually, he had a thought in mind—this was the backside of Yunhai City.

The backside of Yunhai City turned out to be a ruin of an ancient city, with gravity reversed upward.

Lu Yu found it hard to understand whether it was gravity or buoyancy from the sea water that allowed him to stand inverted in the water, yet he didn't feel any blood rush to his head.

He tentatively withdrew the glow of earth escape, exposing himself to the sea.

Feeling the chill of the sea water around, Hai Wei shifted and asked, "Are we in the sea?"

Lu Yu opened his mouth and expelled bubbles; the bubbles floated down toward his feet, this inverted underwater ruin was somewhat unusual.

In the water, although he wouldn't drown, he couldn't answer Hai Wei.

So he bought a Water-Repelling Pearl from the shop, hung the pearl on his waist, activated it with Spiritual Power, and an invisible circular barrier pushed the sea water away, the pearl released air for breathing.

With the sea water pushed away, Lu Yu could finally answer Hai Wei's question, "Seems like we're in the sea."

He strained his eyes to look far ahead, hoping to see the border of the floating island on which Yunhai City was located, but he couldn't see it.

This ancient city ruin existed like a secret realm behind Yunhai City, yet this realm was peculiar for having no fixed entry or exit, though it did have a boundary.

The thin film that Lu Yu pierced through while descending with earth escape was the boundary of the underwater ruin's secret realm.

In other words, Lu Yu could simply use earth escape to leave this realm, directly pass through the earth, and return to Yunhai City.

Releasing the Coiling Dragon Rope, Hai Wei eagerly darted out of the Water-Repelling Pearl's range, circling around Lu Yu in the water.

Here, for at least four hours, they wouldn't face pursuit from the sea tribes; beyond four hours, it was uncertain.

But Lu Yu wasn't afraid, as he found this place quite unique, greatly suppressing sensory powers; the surrounding dark water severely limited visibility.

Even someone at the Qi Sea Realm could only make out things within a few dozen meters.

Sensory powers were further suppressed; as long as one stayed still and refrained from causing water flow changes, they could hardly be detected while hiding behind a wall.

Here, adaptability was crucial as attacks often became noticeable only at the moment they occurred.

Curious, Lu Yu explored the ruins, familiarizing himself with the terrain to prepare for potential combat.

Suddenly, Hai Wei swam over to Lu Yu, "Follow me, there's something good over here."

Lu Yu followed Hai Wei, flipping over several walls, and saw a treasure chest left on the ground, surrounded by scattered pearls, gems, gold...

Seeing the scattered treasures, Lu Yu felt an odd sensation as if the world had turned upside down.

In his understanding, gravity should be in the opposite direction of the bubbles he expelled, yet here, the bubbles were drifting downward, while gravity also pointed to the land beneath his feet.

Approaching the chest, the surrounding sea water was completely pushed away, leaving a few small fish hidden in the gold and gems to flop helplessly on dry land.

Half of Hai Wei's body was in the water, she reached into the space created by the Water-Repelling Pearl and scooped up the fish, placing them back in the water.

"Off you go, find a new home," Hai Wei said to the fish, which shook their heads and tails in gratitude before swimming away.

Lu Yu stowed the treasure chest in his backpack, a pleasant surprise.

Seeing the trail of gold coins scattered in the distance, he understood the chest was likely moved here by someone else, though he wondered where those who found the chest went.

Suddenly, Lu Yu felt a sting in his calf, painful but not piercing the skin.

Looking down, he saw a thin purple tentacle wrapped around his calf, covered in tiny needles whose tips were purple, clearly venomous.

Unfortunately, the attacker couldn't penetrate Lu Yu's skin, failing to poison him. Realizing its ambush had failed, the attacker attempted to withdraw its tentacle.

Lu Yu was quick and stomped on the retreating tentacle, intending to pull out the attacker, but the tentacle suddenly broke off, emitting a reddish-black liquid.

The attacker severed its tentacle to escape, and Lu Yu, despite the tentacle's severance, didn't catch sight of the attacker's true form.

Picking up the purple tentacle, it still wriggled even after breaking, coiling around Lu Yu's fingers trying to poison him.

The tentacle had a distinct texture, unlike a normal tentacle's slick softness, resembling more of a plant vine.

Lu Yu scanned the surroundings, the underwater ruin was eerily silent, not a single fish in sight, an obvious indication of danger.

"Seems like this place isn't as safe as it appears," Lu Yu called out, "Hai Wei, come back."

Not hearing anything from Hai Wei, Lu Yu turned around, and Hai Wei had disappeared somewhere.

Three black lines appeared on Lu Yu's forehead, Hai Wei truly was fearless.

What Hai Wei feared was having her freedom restricted, letting loose to explore the sea on sight, forgetting they were being hunted.

Bang! The sound of an explosion underwater reached Lu Yu's ears, shockwaves reverberating through the sea, soon after hearing the sound, Lu Yu felt water vibrations, suggesting the source wasn't far away.

He quickly ran toward the origin of the vibration, fearing Hai Wei was in danger, directly heading toward the direction of the shockwaves, leaping over collapsed walls, rapidly approaching the source.

The shattered remnants in the underwater ruins seemed dilapidated but were immensely solid, even someone at the Qi Sea Realm couldn't easily break these ancient structures.

Lu Yu could only climb over the wall, not break through it.

Soon, Lu Yu approached the source of the commotion, and a familiar figure appeared in his sight.

Lin Tao was fighting a fish monster wrapped in vines, with a purple-red flower on top of its head. The explosion sounds came from the martial arts he was using.

His martial arts could detonate water flow, creating a vacuum bubble, which was very advantageous when dealing with sea creatures.

However, when facing that strange fish monster, Lin Tao was clearly at a disadvantage.

His vacuum burst couldn't effectively harm the fish monster. The damage caused by the vacuum burst was absorbed by the vines on the fish monster, and by the time it injured the fish monster's body, its power was less than twenty or thirty percent, making it difficult to inflict a fatal wound.

In the ocean, unlike Lu Yu, he didn't have the Water-Repelling Pearl, so his speed of movement was significantly reduced and was far less agile than the fish monster.

After the vines on the fish monster absorbed the damage, they absorbed the spiritual power from the vacuum burst, causing the vines on its body to glow red, and the drooping flower on its head stood erect.

Bang! A vacuum burst suddenly appeared beside Lin Tao. He was prepared and wasn't harmed by the sudden burst.

It seemed that Lin Tao knew that the flower on the fish monster's head could copy his attack and counterattack him. Otherwise, an ordinary person would find it difficult to react quickly and make the correct decision when suddenly attacked by their own martial arts.

The first thought an average person would have about such an event is "how can it know my martial arts?" rather than dodging or defending.

After all, martial arts are very private and important things for a Martial Cultivator, and knowing an opponent's martial arts characteristics in advance allows for targeted countermeasures.

It's like knowing a routine before responding to it, and martial arts are a Martial Cultivator's routine.

The water flow disturbance caused by Lu Yu's arrival was sensed by Lin Tao, who turned his head to see a person in a black robe appearing not far away, and he became highly vigilant.

Lin Tao would rather give up the best opportunity to attack while the demon flower was in cooldown than expose his back to an unfamiliar Martial Cultivator.

He shifted his position to face Lu Yu, making the demon flower fish monster have its back to Lu Yu, to prevent being ambushed by the person in the black robe.

Last night, some disciples from the Divine Weapon Pavilion said they wanted to deal with him, so Lin Tao had hidden in the ruins at the sea bottom to avoid them, barely escaping the sea creatures' invasion of the Divine Weapon Pavilion.

Not seeing Hai Wei, Lu Yu sighed in relief. As he was about to leave, Hai Wei quickly swam up from behind him.

Swimming is a natural advantage for sea creatures, especially the merfolk living in the deep sea.

Hai Wei's speed in the ocean exceeded anything eight seahorses could match for Lu Yu.

But he didn't need to chase Hai Wei; the coiled dragon rope around his waist shot out from his black robe, wrapped around Hai Wei's waist, connecting the two of them. Lu Yu said, "Don't run off, it's not safe here."

Looking at the coil of dragon rope around her waist, Hai Wei felt a bit awkward, but she nodded and softly replied, "Okay" after hearing Lu Yu's words.

Soon, the awkward look on her face disappeared, replaced by excitement. She eagerly said to Lu Yu, "Come quickly, there are lots of good things over here."

When Hai Wei appeared, a huge wave rose in Lin Tao's heart.

Seeing the yellow rope shooting out from the black robe, seeing the familiar rope, he had already figured out who the person in the black robe was.

That rope was Lu Yu's Spiritual Treasure, and Lin Tao was certain he could never mistake it, so he concluded that the person in the black robe was Lu Yu.

Leaving behind the demon flower fish monster, he swam towards Lu Yu. The protective spiritual armor appeared, pushing the seawater aside. After taking an air bottle from his storage bag to inflate the spiritual armor, Lin Tao could speak at the sea bottom.

Seeing Lu Yu turning to leave with Hai Wei, Lin Tao hurriedly shouted, "Wait!"

Lu Yu completely ignored Lin Tao and followed Hai Wei to the place she mentioned.

"I was wrong!" Lin Tao shouted. "I was at fault in this matter. I didn't realize how much you cared for her. If I had known how much you liked her, I would never have told the He family."

"I haven't touched a single penny of the one million He family gave me. I can give it all to you; we can still be friends!"

Lu Yu was unmoved, being pulled along by Hai Wei as they swam away.

Lin Tao said bitterly, "I know you don't care about this one million, but I just want to continue being your friend."

Hearing Lin Tao's words, Lu Yu paused on a section of broken wall. Standing on the broken wall and without turning his head, he said, "For the sake of our friendship, any grudges are over. You take care of yourself in the future."

After saying that, Lu Yu pushed off the broken wall, retrieved his Water-Repelling Pearl, and dived into the sea, swimming away with Hai Wei.

Being false friends, both harboring suspicion, is worse than simply being straightforward and severing the relationship, rather than letting it drag on.

The situation is clear in his heart, and even if Lu Yu forgave Lin Tao, when Lin Tao thinks back on his impulsive actions, he'll inevitably have other feelings in his heart.

It's better not to forgive.

Not forgiving allows Lin Tao to accept that one million without hesitation and sever ties with Lu Yu.

He only needs to blame it all on Lu Yu and can accept the money with peace of mind.

He can comfort himself by thinking that since he already reached out to Lu Yu, it was Lu Yu who didn't forgive him. If he doesn't forgive, then it's Lu Yu's fault; neither of them is righteous, and there's no need to say more.

With enough self-suggestion, one can believe this is the truth.

Often, it's interests that outweigh feelings. If interests can't move feelings, it only shows the 'interest' isn't big enough.

As Lin Tao watched Lu Yu's retreating figure, he gripped the Cyan Crystal Card in his hand. Upon discovering Lu Yu possessed a great amount of wealth and had the backing of the strongest force in Yunhai City, the Huang family, their relationship had already started to change.

This request for Lu Yu's forgiveness was more about fearing the powers behind Lu Yu than repairing their relationship.

Lu Yu's words set his mind at ease, freeing him from worries.

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